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The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting

Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street

They are still trying to spin that he was a threat

It's insane

There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.

Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.

I think the micro-analysis of what actually happened completely misses the point here. To be brutal, the murder of these two individuals is just another couple of additions to a long list of state violence in the US. Nothing special about that.

What's different is that in both cases all investigations have been blocked by the Federal Government, and that same government has labelled both victims "terrorists". The family of the first victim has been investigated by ICE and now some of the witnesses of the second have (apparently) had to go into hiding to avoid the same. We've passed the threshold into fascism I think.

This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations.
The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.

Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.'
https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196

Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.

Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?

White supremacist religious nationalism. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 for details.

Basically they want the Confederacy back

EDIT: Despite restoring confederate monuments claiming the US shouldn't scrub its heritage, yesterday they removed exhibits in Philadelphia explaining slavery

.

This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations.
The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.

Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.'
https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196

Oh FFS. Everyone (for some values of everyone) knew Trump 2.0 was being run by Project 2025. It was even put to him during the campaign, but he denied knowing them.

Well, quite.
I'm not praising Reuters for their blindness.

My point is that Reuters - one of the last independent news organisations that attempts to be unbiased - has at least finally acknowledged its reporting was based on a false premise.

The BBC has yet to do that, and still reports US news as both sides - often leading with the administration's statements, even when it's plain that the administration is lying.

Sarah Smith in trying to appear scrupulously impartial sane washes the madness. This is why I rely on the brilliant Simon Marks. Marks catalogues the insanity and castigates third parties, like Starmer, for normalising the very abnormal.

The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting

Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street

They are still trying to spin that he was a threat

It's insane

There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.

Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.

and sandpit and mr glenn blame the dems

And Leon thinks this is comparable to a delayed county council election. *

*which I agree is wrong but the worst example of whataboutery I've ever seen on PB. Even the Charlie Kirk comparison doesn't work because 1) he wasn't shot by the state 2) Obama didn't call him a terrorist 3) the guy who did it was arrested.

Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.

This is unconstitutional and any conclusion DHS comes to can’t be trusted.
https://x.com/RepJimmyGomez/status/2015178523648864646

It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.

That is the nature of non authoritarian constitutions, including ours. The moment the consent of the politically powerful is withheld it relies on the constitutional monopoly holders of enforcement (police, army, courts) to enforce using such force as is necessary. This all relies on the good chaps theory of government. To that extent the theory is true. It's defect is different. Ie that a classics degree from Oxford makes you the best person to make key decisions on major engineering projects and so on.

The good chaps theory of getting on together in every possible respect is at the heart of our culture. It works remarkably often.

@Sandpit you are one of the posters on here I most enjoy reading - we view the political world through very different lenses but you are articulate and thoughtful and often challenge my thinking (and I am pigheaded enough that not many people manage to do this). I was thoroughly disappointed when you were persuaded to leave this forum for a period of time because of some quite unpleasant posts directed at you.

So I hope I might be permitted to challenge your thinking on this latest Minnesota shooting without this being perceived as another one of those posts - it isn't meant that way.

You clearly sincerely believe that the anti-immigration stance Trump is taking in the USA is a good thing, and that Walz is doing the wrong thing in resisting it. I don't know enough to escape my own prejudices to have an informed and balanced opinion on this.

But look at that latest video again with fresh eyes, knowing what we now know about the victim. A band of masked, non-uniformed men have just very incompetently attempted to apprehend, and then kill, a man who appears to be entirely innocent.

This isn't okay, it is criminal, and trying to divert from that to Walz's immigration policy is the worst form of political whataboutery.

I think you’re both right

ICE just executed a man in Minnesota. Not quite in cold blood, but certainly not - AFAICS - with any real justification. This is because a hard nasty USG wants to impose its will, with violence if necessary, against a Left which it sees as imperilling America’s future

But the American Left IS a threat to America. It’s the Left that does the assassinations - Kirk. It’s the Left that really did flood America with millions of migrants to ramp up Democrat votes and debauch American democracy (and defraud America via fraud - Walz really is a snake)

I’m reading a book about Weimar Germany right now. The parallels are intense. Both sides get more and more polarised and are equally unsympathetic. The Nazis won, and it was a catastrophe - would it have been better for Germany or the world if the commies had won and allied with Stalin?

A grim moment

Don't be daft.
The Democrats are not Stalin.

Nor is Trump Hitler. But you guys constantly use this language - “Republicans are Nazis, Trump = Hitler” etc

In the end it might be self-fulfilling

Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.

This is unconstitutional and any conclusion DHS comes to can’t be trusted.
https://x.com/RepJimmyGomez/status/2015178523648864646

It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.

Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.

There's no real equivalent to the infamous Article 48 in the US Constitution.

The problem really is the complacency of the Senate coupled with the corruption of the Supreme Court (whom I note have still not ruled on tariffs, which if the immunity farce is anything to go by suggests a majority are looking for sophistic ways of ruling Trump's crimes to be legal). If either institution had done its job properly in the last five years the US would not be in this mess.

The one constant remaining beacon of hope in the unfolding shitshow is just how incompetent the regime is. They do have all the power with no constraints, and they are doing everything they can to fuck it up.

Bizarrely, the fact Trump is an elderly dementia addled pillock is probably the key there. As long as he continues to hold power it's difficult for those who are as malign as he is *and* intelligent, competent and energetic - the likes of Miller, Vance, Hegseth and Gabbard - to do as much damage as they would wish.

They're still causing a hell of a lot of trouble though. Look at Kash Patel firing all FBI agents who are not loyal to Trump (most definitely illegally and without any sort of process). Or Noem having random people murdered. Or Vance and Leavitt randomly insulting all the US' allies while sucking up to Russia.

The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting

Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street

They are still trying to spin that he was a threat

It's insane

Haven't you read Project 2025. It's all in there. See pages 141/142

The NPS will be created in stages, working alongside existing agencies and regional organised crime units for the transition.

Backing the plans, Neil Basu, former head of counter-terrorism policing, said NPS will be “far more capable as one national security system dealing more effectively with major crime, organised crime and terrorism in all its forms”.

Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, which would be merged into the new organisation, is also supporting the proposals.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/24/home-office-to-launch-british-fbi-to-deal-with-serious-uk-wide

Another 2035 plan?

Another British FBI, certainly, replacing the NCA aka the British FBI. In view of recent events Stateside, perhaps they should drop that comparison.

I'm sceptical. Here's a problem; it's hard; let's have a massive reorganisation plucked out of thin air and hope for the best. What's it for? Saving money on administration by having one organisation run police helicopters, say, or to increase effectiveness by centralising serious crime investigations, or to reify the Home Secretary's mashup of Minority Report and Chinese-style surveillance?